Recycling helps individuals and communities in Montana create a resource from items that would otherwise be trash. Recycling also provides jobs. A 2004 study showed recycling created more than 300 full-time jobs across the state. Since that time, Montana’s recycling rate has gone from 12% to nearly 17% in 2012.
However, recycling can be difficult in Montana due to the lack of infrastructure to collect and process recyclables, as well as end-uses for recycling in the manufacturing process. Recognizing these challenges, Montana policy makers established important incentives to help Montana realize the economic and environmental benefits of recycling.
Unfortunately, Senate Bill 171, now before the House Taxation Committee, would strike these important incentives without any review of the fiscal, community, and environmental impact of losing these recycling incentives. Senate Bill 171 needs to be amended to preserve Montana’s recycling incentives. These incentives help Montana businesses invest in recycling collection, recycling processing, and recycling-based manufacturing in Montana.
Please let your legislators know you support recycling and policies designed to maintain or enhance recycling’s economic and environmental benefits in Montana.
Mark E. Nelson, President
Montana Recycling Association